Laleham Church of England Primary School

Attendance

At Laleham, we place a high priority on attendance as it is an essential skill for life and for employment in the future. Please work with us as we endeavour to support your children in becoming successful adults and employers/employees in the future. Low attendance has a marked impact on learning and academic achievement.

We do appreciate, however, that a child’s absence due to an illness or a medical appointment can be unavoidable.

Parents must notify the school on the first day of an unplanned absence – for example, if their child is unable to attend due to ill health – by 9am or as soon as practically possible. Please see below on how to report your child's absence.

We encourage parents to make medical and dental appointments out of school hours where possible. Where this is not possible, your child should be out of school for the minimum amount of time necessary. the school will not authorise more absence than is required to attend the appointment.

We wish to remind you that any holiday booked within term time, will always be unauthorised unless there is an exceptional reason which has been agreed by the head teacher. The children have 13 weeks of holiday in one academic year, and this is the time when holidays should be taken.  

We expect that all parents/carers who have day to day responsibility for the children and young people will:

  • encourage regular school attendance and be aware of their legal responsibilities
  • ensure that the child/children in their care arrive at school punctually, prepared for the school day
  • contact the school before 9.00am on the morning of each day of your child’s absence by using the tab options below. Any unexplained absence is recorded as unauthorised absence
  • contact the school promptly whenever any problem occurs that may keep the child away from school

 

Attendance Policy

Attendance Policy

Making attendance count

If you are a parent/carer of a child who is of statutory school age (the term after their 5th birthday), you have a ‘statutory duty’ to ensure that YOUR child is in school.

The Government has high expectations, as do we at Laleham and we all expect YOUR child to be in school 100% of the time!

Children are at school for 190 days per academic year

 

Children are at home for 175 NON-SCHOOL days per academic year (including weekends, holidays and bank holidays)

 
% Attendance during one school year Equates to days/weeks absent (approx) Number of lessons missed (approx) Concerns of the school  Procedures Next steps
95% - 100% 0-10 days/ 0- 2 weeks absence No concerns N/A N/A
93% - 95% 10-12 days / 2 weeks + absence 60-72 lessons missed Internal monitoring of attendance N/A N/A
90% – 93% 12-19 days / 3-4 weeks + absence 72-96 lessons missed Patterns of absence forming Letter sent to parents Monitor weekly
90% and below 19 days or 4 weeks absence 120+ missed lessons Persistent Absence Meeting with parents & weekly monitoring If no improvement, referral to the Inclusion Team at Surrey County Council

 

ANY ATTENDANCE THAT FALLS BELOW 90% IS CALLED PERSISTENT ABSENCE (PA) 

Please be advised that if your child's attendance drops below 90%, this is described as 'Persistent Absence'. A letter will be sent home and you will be invited to meet with the headteacher, to discuss the reasons for your child's attendance percentage, providing medical information where appropriate. If improvements are not made within a half term, the Inclusion Officer from Surrey County Council will arrange for a meeting between your family and school. PLEASE be reminded that we are not here to criticise your parenting skills or family life, but want to support you in your statutory duty of ensuring that your child is at school. THANK YOU for working in partnership with us.

 

What does your attendance percentage really mean?

What does your attendance percentage really mean? There are 190 days in a school year, with 13 weeks' holiday in the year. The table below shows how many school days and weeks are missed when your child is absent.

How much school have you missed?
Percentage % School days School weeks
99% 1
97% 5 1
94% 10 2
92% 15 3
89% 20 4
86% 25 5
84% 30 6
81% 35 7
78% 40

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Every day that you are absent impacts on your education, possible life chances and therefore opportunities in the future.

Your target and our expectation for school attendance for your child is a minimum of 95% and above.  

 Report your child's absence below

 

Please report your child's absence using one of the buttons below.

Attendance-Reporting (ID 1043)